By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Sep 28, 2026
Maine's oversize and overweight permits come from the Secretary of State's Bureau of Motor Vehicles, not the DOT, and cost little: a single-trip permit runs $6 to $27.50 depending on how far the load exceeds the limit that draws the highest fee. Legal limits are 102 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches of vehicle structure (a load may rise 6 inches more), 45 feet for a single vehicle, 65 feet for a combination and 80,000 pounds for a 5-axle combination, with 100,000 pounds allowed off the Interstate for a 3-axle tractor pulling a tri-axle semitrailer. Moves are daylight only and never on holidays or holiday weekends; from April 22 to November 18 Saturday travel ends at noon, and at 9 a.m. on I-95 from June 3 to August 26.
Who issues what in Maine
The permit pages
Maine-specific requirements
Maine runs almost every trucking credential through one office: the Secretary of State's Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Motor Carrier Services in Augusta handles IRP, IFTA and intrastate fuel licensing, for-hire insurance filings, UCR and oversize permits. There is no state operating authority and no state carrier number. The intrastate USDOT line sits at 26,000 pounds, and a $750,000 intrastate liability minimum applies to policies written or renewed from January 1, 2026.
One office for every credential
Motor Carrier Services at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Augusta handles IRP, IFTA, for-hire insurance, UCR and overlimit permits. Maine's oversize permits come from the Secretary of State, not MaineDOT.
Intrastate trucks need a Maine Only fuel decal
Maine requires fuel tax licensing even for carriers that never leave the state. A qualifying intrastate truck carries one Maine Only decal on the driver's side, expiring June 30, and the carrier may be excused from returns if it certifies all fuel is bought tax-paid in Maine.
Intrastate USDOT number starts above 26,000 pounds
Since July 19, 2015, intrastate-only carriers with vehicles of 10,000 to 26,000 pounds need no USDOT number unless the vehicle is a bus or hauls hazardous materials.
New $750,000 intrastate liability minimum
P.L. 2025, ch. 107 set a $750,000 combined single limit for intrastate commercial motor vehicles, for policies written or renewed on or after January 1, 2026.
100,000-pound six-axle trucks off the Interstate
A 3-axle truck tractor with a tri-axle semitrailer may gross 100,000 pounds off the Interstate Highway System if the extreme axles (excluding the steer axle) are at least 36 feet apart, the tandem carries no more than 41,000 pounds and the tri-axle no more than 50,000 pounds.
Oversize permits for $6 to $27.50
Single-trip overlimit permits are priced by how far the load exceeds the limit, from $6 to $27.50, some of the cheapest in the country; long-term overdimensional permits are $25 a month.
Holiday weekends and summer Saturdays close the roads to oversize loads
Overdimensional moves are barred on legal holidays and holiday weekends, including Patriots' Day, Juneteenth and the Friday after Thanksgiving, and from April 22 to November 18 Saturday travel ends at noon (9 a.m. on I-95 from June 3 to August 26).
Staggered IRP with a town excise tax
Maine IRP fleets expire on their own month, not a statewide date, and each registration requires the municipal excise tax paid first to the town where the truck is based.
Canadian weight routes in northern and eastern Maine
Canadian Weight Limit Permits allow Canadian weights on three border routes: Calais to Baileyville, Madawaska to the mill in Madawaska, and Van Buren to the rail yard, for tractors IRP-registered at 100,000 pounds in Maine.
Annual commercial vehicle inspection
Most commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds GVWR or GCWR, buses for more than 15 passengers and placarded hazmat vehicles need an annual commercial vehicle safety inspection; a current inspection certificate from any approved state or federal program is honored until it expires.
Petroleum and waste haulers answer to DEP
Carriers of petroleum, waste oil and solid waste need licenses from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in addition to their motor carrier credentials.
The Maine permit system
- Apply or log in (MoveMEMaine online permitting)
- movememaine.com
More Maine rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: summary
- None. The operating authority license statute (29-A M.R.S. sec. 552) was repealed in 2009, and Maine carriers identify themselves with the FMCSA-issued USDOT number; see intrastate-authority.
- UCR participation: summary
- Maine participates in UCR (29-A M.R.S. sec. 551) and carriers based in Maine must use it as their base state. Registration runs January to December, and the fee is set nationally by fleet size (see the UCR fee brackets). File online at ucr.gov or by mail or fax to Motor Carrier Services - UCR; the Operating Authority Unit answers at 207-624-9000 ext. 52131 and ucr@maine.gov. Purely intrastate carriers are not subject to UCR.
- ELD intrastate adoption: regulation
- 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4 (Maine Motor Carrier Safety Regulation), sec. 4, which adopts 49 CFR Part 395 for interstate and intrastate carriers in Maine with State amendments, adopted by the Bureau of the Maine State Police under 29-A M.R.S. sec. 555(2)
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary: text
- Maine adopts 49 CFR Part 395 for intrastate commerce by rule, as amended, and then takes nearby intrastate work out of it entirely. 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4, sec. 4(D)(1) says intrastate motor carriers, vehicles and drivers that operate less than 100 air miles from their regular place of business are exempt from 49 C.F.R. Pt. 395: the driving and duty limits, the record of duty status and the ELD rule all fall away. The federal 150 air-mile short-haul exception in 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1) lifts only sections 395.8 and 395.11 and keeps the 395.3 driving and duty limits, on condition of a 14-hour return and 6 months of time records. Sec. 4(A)(1) allows no exemption for placarded hazardous materials loads, and 29-A M.R.S. sec. 555(2)(A-2) bars the State Police from adopting one. Intrastate work at or beyond 100 air miles stays under federal Part 395, ELD included.
- ELD intrastate adoption: adopted parts: value
- Sec. 3 adopts 49 CFR Parts 40, 382, 390, 393 and 396 and most of Part 392 without State amendments. Sec. 4 adopts Parts 383, 391 and 395, and the Appendices to Subchapter B, as amended, with State amendments. Sec. 5 adopts Part 385. Sec. 2 applies the chapter to any interstate or intrastate common, contract and private motor carrier transporting passengers or property in Maine, and sec. 1(A) defines a commercial motor vehicle at a GVWR, GCWR, GVW or GCW of 10,001 pounds or more, more than 8 passengers including the driver for compensation, more than 15 passengers not for compensation, or a placarded hazardous materials load.
- ELD intrastate adoption: intrastate hos exemption: value
- Intrastate motor carriers, vehicles and drivers to which the chapter applies that operate less than 100 air miles from their regular place of business are exempt from 49 C.F.R. Pt. 395. The exemption is the whole Part: the 10-hour, 14-hour and 11-hour limits and the 60 or 70 hour weekly limits in 395.3, the record of duty status in 395.8 and with it the ELD requirement. The rule attaches no return-to-base, 14-hour or time-record condition of its own. The radius is measured from the regular place of business, not the federal 'normal work reporting location'.
- ELD intrastate adoption: federal short haul comparison: value
- The federal 150 air-mile short-haul exception exempts a driver only from 49 CFR 395.8 and 395.11, and only if the driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location, returns and is released within 14 consecutive hours, has at least 10 consecutive hours off duty between each 14 hours on duty (property carriers), and the carrier keeps time records for 6 months. The 395.3 driving and duty limits stay on. Maine's sec. 4(D)(1) radius is shorter (100 air miles against 150) and its relief is broader (all of Part 395 against two sections).
- ELD intrastate adoption: federal short haul comparison: regulation
- 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1), against 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4, sec. 4(D)(1)
- ELD intrastate adoption: hazardous materials carve back: value
- There are no exemptions for motor carriers, vehicles or drivers transporting hazardous materials of a type or quantity that requires the vehicle to be marked or placarded under 49 C.F.R. Pt. 172. A placarded intrastate load is under the full Part 395, hours and ELD, at any distance. The statute behind the rule says the same: the Bureau may not adopt any rule exempting placarded hazardous materials carriers from a federal regulation it incorporates.
- ELD intrastate adoption: hazardous materials carve back: regulation
- 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4, sec. 4(A)(1); 29-A M.R.S. sec. 555(2)(A-2)
- ELD intrastate adoption: record of duty status: value
- For intrastate work at or beyond 100 air miles from the regular place of business, and for any placarded hazardous materials load, Part 395 applies as adopted, so 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i) requires an ELD unless a federal paper-log case in 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A) applies: records of duty status on not more than 8 days in any 30-day period, the two driveaway-towaway cases, or a vehicle manufactured before model year 2000 as shown by the VIN on its registration. Maine adds no ELD-specific exception beyond sec. 4(D)(1).
- ELD intrastate adoption: record of duty status: regulation
- 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1), applied by 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4, sec. 4
- ELD intrastate adoption: intrastate driver age: value
- Intrastate carriers, vehicles and drivers that operate more than 100 air miles from their regular place of business are exempt from 49 C.F.R. 391.11(b)(1), the federal age-21 rule, and those drivers must be at least 18 years old.
- ELD intrastate adoption: home heating oil exemption: note
- 29-A M.R.S. sec. 555(2-B) lets the Bureau of State Police grant temporary exemptions from the weekly limits in the intrastate hours-of-service regulations for winter home heating oil deliveries. That is an authority, not an exemption in force: 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4 as published carries no such provision, and no separate rule granting one was located. left blank until a current grant is found at the source.
- ELD intrastate adoption: notes
- Authored 2026-10-04 by reading 16-222 C.M.R. ch. 4 in the Secretary of State's Word file (converted with textutil) and 29-A M.R.S. sec. 555 at the Revisor of Statutes, and 49 CFR 395.1, 395.3 and 395.8 through the eCFR versioner API as of 2026-09-24. The keyword pass (docs/state-rollouts/maine/keyword-pass.md) verified sec. 4(D)(1), 4(A)(1) and 4(C)(2) on 2026-09-28. The rule says 'less than 100 air miles' in sec. 4(D)(1) and 'more than 100 air miles' in sec. 4(C)(2); it does not address a carrier at exactly 100. The rule names no ELD ruleset or device duty of its own.
The permit office and MoveMEMaine
The Overlimit Permit Unit sits with the rest of Motor Carrier Services in Augusta and keeps weekday business hours. You can apply online through MoveMEMaine, send the permit application by fax, mail or email, walk in at Augusta or any BMV branch, or use a permit service. Most permits cannot be issued far in advance, and a faxed permit must be charged to an overlimit account or a credit card.
The Maine Turnpike is separate. It sells its own permit at the toll plaza, and you still need a BMV permit for every other road on the route.
The permit types Maine issues
A single trip is priced in brackets by how far the load exceeds each limit, and the fee is the one for whichever dimension or weight draws the highest bracket. A permit covering several loaded moves is charged per move. Long-term overdimensional permits run by the month, from one month up to a year, within a set width and length envelope. Heavier six- and seven-axle combinations can buy long-term overweight permits in two weight tiers.
A carrier with a BMV billing account can buy a book of instant permits approved by phone. The heaviest and widest loads count as extreme and need a MaineDOT engineering review.
Holidays, summer Saturdays and the Turnpike
Permitted moves run in daylight only, never on legal holidays or holiday weekends, and Maine's holiday list includes Patriots' Day, Juneteenth and the Friday after Thanksgiving. From spring through fall, Saturday travel ends at noon, and earlier on the Interstate in midsummer. Summer Sunday moves need MaineDOT pre-clearance.
On the Turnpike the legal height is lower than elsewhere, because it allows no extra load height and many bridges sit right at the vehicle limit.
Compare beyond Maine
Running multi-state loads? The trucking permits by state table shows which permit families and issuing offices apply in every jurisdiction, the oversize permit costs by state table compares limits and fees across all 51 jurisdictions, and the permit cost estimator prices a specific load per state.